Despite governments' and central banks' measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, global economies face an unprecedented challenge and there are substantial downside risks. We are therefore revising our outlook on Santander UK Group Holdings PLC (the intermediate non-operating holding company or NOHC) and Santander UK PLC to negative from stable. The outlooks reflects our expectation that the negative economic environment will weigh on asset quality and earnings. We are affirming our issuer and issue ratings because we believe Santander UK's good position in U.K. retail banking and its conservative risk profile underpin its creditworthiness at the current rating level. On April 23, 2020, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Santander UK Group Holdings PLC to negative from stable, and
